Who Is Tina Campbell?

Who is Tina Campbell? Tina Atkins-Campbell is one-half of Mary Mary, the gospel duo featured on the WE reality TV series of the same name. Tina’s Mary Mary band mate is her sister Erica Atkins-Campbell, and the two are credited with bringing gospel back into the mainstream.

Mary Mary have released seven albums—the most recent being 2012’s “Go Get It”—and the reality show has brought them additional fame. Curiously, both Tina and Erica wed men with the last name Campbell, and as “Mary Mary” viewers well know, Tina is married to Teddy Campbell, the drummer in Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” band.

“Who is Tina Campbell?” is a question fans of gospel music haven’t asked for about a decade, as Mary Mary have been genre giants since the early 2000s, when their mix of religious lyrics and soul, hip-hop, funk, and jazz music earned them widespread acclaim.

Tina Campbell—born Trecina Atkins on May 1, 1974 in Inglewood, California—grew up closer to Erica than any of her other siblings—there were nine Atkins kids in all—and both set their sights on careers in singing from an early age. The sisters served stints on the gospel show “Mama I’m Sorry” and served as background singers for various R&B singers, among them Brandy, and in the late ‘90s, they landed several songs on movie soundtracks. The first Mary Mary album, “Thankful,” dropped in 2000, and their debut single, “Shackles (Praise You),” reached No. 28 on the Billboard 100.